Pros
1. Free breakfast food available at the pantry and free lunch orders on Seamless up to $15 and delivered to your desk. Sounds great, but you get tired of ordering from the same place after 3 months. $15 on lunch doesn't get you much, and this $15 limit has not changed forever. Also, because everyone orders via Seamless, you feel obligated to do so. Sometimes, it's nice to go out and have a lunch outside, but you won't be able to do so without feeling guilty. Also the food at the pantry has downgraded significantly over the years. 2. Great healthcare benefits. Until last year the benefits were fully paid by the firm. Now, employees must shoulder some of the expenses. Still a great benefit at the moment, but with all the cost cuts, who knows what the benefit will be like in few years. 3. Great professionally looking office with great outside view (if you are on 39th floor or 40th floor). 4. Good place for professionals who has 2-3 years of experience to work for 2-3 years to learn. Personally, I would not recommend staying for extended period of time beyond that, as growth opportunity here at Oz is not great.
Cons
1. New senior managements with fresh look at the situation. What they preach sounds good, but what they are truly focusing on is cost cuts, and not on how to make the firm better place for the employees. 2. LOTS OF people leaving. The headcount of the company decreased by more than 20% from its peak about 2 years ago. People who are leaving and have left are employees that were loyal, knowledgeable, skillful, and smart (and personable!). Almost everyone I talk to that are still at Oz expresses an interest in leaving the firm. Less people = more work, but not necessarily get paid more. The worst part is that the management is doing absolutely nothing to prevent more people from quitting. Maybe that's what they want. 3. "Promote within" is a false statement. The only promotions I've seen involves their bosses leaving. Even then, in many cases, instead of promoting a capable employee, the management likes to find talents externally. 4. Very little bonding and interactions between the employees in different teams. People only come to you when they need something. Personally, I like to have more personal interaction with people I work with, since I spend more time with them than with my family. 5. Overly complicated process and institutional nuances causes steep learning curve. This also takes away employees from fully understanding what they are doing and focus more on learning about the process. Most people resist changes, so there are no efforts being made to reduce unnecessary complexity. 6. Even during vacations, you are expected to check your e-mails. Also, taking a vacation is such a big deal. Why can't I take the vacations I earned without being complained about when to take them? 7. Look at the asset under management and the stock price of the Company in the past few years. That will tell you everything you need to know about the firm.